


The Price of Magic

by Takara_Phoenix



Series: Phoe's Writer's Month 2020 [24]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood-centric, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Pining, Slash, True Love's Kiss, Writer's Month 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26083909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takara_Phoenix/pseuds/Takara_Phoenix
Summary: Someone summoned a love demon into the Institute, driving all adults crazy and leaving it up to the teens to get rid of the demon again. But his price for leaving is the energy created by True Love's Kiss, which makes Alec really nervous - because he knows he can pay the price, but what if someone learns his secret?
Relationships: Alec Lightwood/Jace Wayland
Series: Phoe's Writer's Month 2020 [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859461
Comments: 14
Kudos: 165
Collections: Jalec, Malace 101, Writer's Month 2020





	The Price of Magic

Jalec || Shadowhunters || Jalec || The Price of Magic || Jalec || Shadowhunters || Jalec

Title: The Price of Magic – Writer's Month 2020

Fandom: Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments

Disclaimer: All rights to the _Shadowhunters_ show reserved to Ed Decter, the books the show is based off and its characters belong to Cassandra Clare. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Tags: m/m, pining, fluff, true love magic

Main Pairing: Alec/Jace

Shadowhunters Characters: Jonathan Christopher 'Jace' Herondale, Alexander 'Alec' Lightwood, Isabelle 'Izzy' Lightwood, Andrew Underhill, Aline Penhallow

Writer's Month Prompt: True Love's Kiss

Summary: Someone summoned a love demon into the Institute, but his price for leaving is the energy created by True Love's Kiss. Which has a teenaged Alec really nervous.

**The Price of Magic**

_Writer's Month 2020_

Someone at the Institute had summoned a demon. No one entirely knew who did it, but all bets were on one of the teens, probably on a dare. It was a love-demon, so it figured that someone had had a gloriously bad idea. However, now all of the adults were going crazy.

"What is _going on_?", barked Alec out, trying to duck for cover.

"Everyone's going crazy", yelled Andrew Underhill at him. "I suspect someone lost a bet."

"The one summer I agree 'oh sure I'll stay with the Lightwoods, it'll be a good chance to learn how other Institutes work'", huffed Aline annoyed.

"Oh, shut up", huffed Isabelle, elbowing Aline at that.

"Why are they playing around with demons", groaned Alec annoyed.

"Because some people don't take training seriously. They find it _fun_ and decide to experiment with demon summoning when they have no place playing around with this stuff", growled Jace next to him.

The parabatai exchanged an exasperated look. Sure, Jace liked to pretend he took things lightly, but he absolutely knew the dangers, he knew what he was doing. The other teens at the Institute took it as something playful, something to make light of. A cool game they were playing. Alec's eyes softened as he looked at his parabatai, as they always did when his train of thought went there. This wasn't a game for Jace; Jace had been raised for this by his abusive father, he had never been allowed fun, games or failure. Shaking his head, Alec tried to focus on what was important. Which was getting increasingly harder these days because with every day, Alec fell more and more in love with his parabatai. He had a huge crush on Jace prior to the parabatai ceremony, had been falling in love already. Part of him had hoped the bond would cut those feelings, would – shift them to something else. But it didn't, it only made everything feel more intense. He could literally feel Jace's soul inside himself, he could feel Jace's heartbeat in his own chest. Jace was now a part of him, how could he not fall even more in love with Jace...? He could _feel_ Jace.

"What demon are we talking about and how do we stop it?", asked Jace professionally.

Alec loved when Jace was being professional. It shouldn't do the things it did to Alec, but it did. Seeing his parabatai all serious and focused on what was important, instead of taking it all in good fun. He did that, often. Especially on missions, when they were hunting demons. He _acted_ like it was all fun and games, sometimes it really was for him because it was _too easy_.

"Love-demon", grunted Andrew and made a face. "Don't know what exactly."

"...We leave for an hour to show Aline the city and someone summons a love-demon?", snorted Jace and rolled his eyes, shaking his head a little. "Wow. Missing all the fun."

"Yeah, apparently I picked the wrong people to hang out with. I have regrets", drawled Aline.

The two exchanged a snarky grin and Alec just rolled his eyes. " _How_ do we stop it?"

"We have to summon it into a pentagram. Good thing we found ourselves an Underhill to make it five", drawled Jace dryly. "And then we have to strike a bargain with it."

"...What kind of bargain?", asked Alec doubtfully.

"Depends on the demon's fancy", shrugged Jace with a tilted head. "Try this?"

"I saw your parents make out like teenagers. And I think Hodge was trying to join in. _Yes_."

The traumatized look on Andrew's face was contagious as Jace, Alec and Isabelle found themselves visualizing that scene. Suddenly, Alec felt like he was in dire need of therapy. But yes, rather stop this before he could walk in on such a scene. Something about this demon made everyone very primal – sexual, but also aggressive, hence them all ducking as they made their way to the library. Fighting and making out seemed evenly balanced. Which was terrifying.

"Okay. Chop, chop. Get to work people. We need candles and a rose to burn", declared Jace.

"Why do you know what we have to do? Did _you_ summon the demon?", asked Isabelle warily.

"Yeah, sure. I totally wanted one big orgy in the Institute", drawled Jace with a deadpan. "I read the books. I mean, _all_ of the books. On demon summoning and demons' powers."

It made Alec smile softly. He loved his smart parabatai. Everyone always underestimated Jace, thought he was just pretty and brute force. But he had the brains too; he read so much, studied so hard, harder than possibly anyone else here. And Alec loved that about him, he loved that while Jace mocked many things oftentimes, he also took things very seriously when appropriate and he always worked hard and put his everything into what he was doing.

All too quickly had they set up everything and were standing in a circle, holding hands and summoning the demon to join them there, specifically, instead of running wild in the Institute.

"Who _dares_ call upon me. _Again_ ", growled the demon as he appeared in the circle.

"We call upon you to release you", declared Jace. "Tell us your price."

"I was summoned here for no purpose. Wasting my time like this. My magic is vast. And I demand equal payment for my wasted time", declared the demon annoyed.

"What... would be equal pay?", asked Underhill doubtfully.

"True Love's Kiss."

"You're not my type", quipped Jace immediately, narrowing his eyes at the demon.

The demon scoffed. "You are not mine either, fleshbag. But humans... your strongest magic is your _love_. A currency we don't have. Give me the essence of _one_ True Love's Kiss and I will leave."

" _How_ ", grunted Isabelle, looking at Aline a little lost, but she just shrugged too.

The demon rolled his eyes, like they were all really trying his patience. "One of you has to kiss their True Love, I'll do the bottling-up of the magic, no need to worry your little heads about it."

"So, what... are we talking about here? Crush? Sexual attraction?", asked Aline.

Her eyes flickered over to Isabelle for a split second, while Andrew found himself staring longingly at Alec. Alec's whole focus was on Jace, not that the blonde noticed anything – because he was staring the demon down, a glare on his face that matched the demon's annoyance.

"What part of True Love was too hard for you to grasp? You're Shadowhunters, aren't you? You're familiar with the concept. Don't your kind only love once in your life?", challenged the demon.

"Yeah, but... you can _see_ we're only teens, right?", asked Isabelle pointedly. "I've had crushes before, but I've never... been in love before. Some casual hook ups, sure-"

"Enough, Izzy", interrupted Alec pointedly, glaring at his sister.

"I wouldn't ask of you what you can't give me. Some half-assed attempt is of no use for me either", countered the demon agitated. "I can _sense_ the magic of True Love here. Step forward and pay up. Or let me get back to the massacre orgy I was in the middle of orchestrating out there."

Alec's heart caught in his throat as the demon stared him dead in the eyes. Was he... Could the demon tell? Was Alec this bad at hiding it? No, wait, the demon had said he could sense the love. That meant... the demon could sense his feelings for Jace? Sure, Alec knew he was in love with Jace, but he had never dared put it into this context, not even just for himself. He swallowed hard.

"Okay", sighed Jace exasperated. "No one's volunteering so how about everyone close their eyes and whoever is the one in True Love steps up and does the kissing. We never have to talk about it again. But we _have_ to get this demon out of the Institute before someone gets seriously maimed."

Everyone could agree on that and closed their eyes. Everyone aside from Alec. He stared at the demon, who looked at him smugly. Slowly, his eyes wandered toward Jace. Pretty, perfect Jace. Perfect in absolutely _every_ way, Alec knew that for a _fact_. Many saw flaws in Jace, but even those flaws, when Alec looked at them, he found them... endearing. He was so stupidly in love, even bad qualities seemed cute. He approached Jace slowly, until he stood right in front of him. He was so gorgeous, especially up close. Carefully did he reach up, cupping Jace's cheek. He seemed startled, tempted to open his eyes for a second, but then he relaxed, a frown on his face. Alec leaned in, his heart racing, until their lips met in a soft, gentle, warm kiss. Jace's lips were pillowy, fit perfectly against his. Alec's eyes nearly fluttered shut, but then there was this energy – a red glow emitting from Jace and a blue glow emitting from Alec, they entangled into a strong purple that was being sucked up by the demon, who looked like he had the best meal of his life.

"Your debt has been paid. And it was delicious. I look forward to hearing from you again."

The demon dissolved, Alec quickly tore himself away from Jace and took his place again so by the time everyone opened their eyes, no one was any wise who had done the kissing or who had been kissed. Well, Jace knew he had been kissed. But he'd _never_ know it was Alec.

"Time to clean up the Institute", declared Alec, clearing his throat.

/break\

Knocking on the door disturbed Alec's pacing that evening. They had spent hours cleaning up the Institute and explaining the situation. The group of pre-teens who had done the summoning were being reprimanded, Alec and the others were praised and Alec was left to fret over the taste of Jace's lips that would now haunt him for the rest of his life. When he opened the door, he was only mildly surprised to have Jace squeeze past him. It wasn't rare for Jace to drop by in the evening, so the only surprising part was that Alec had been so busy imagining Jace, he hadn't expected the real one.

"So... True Love, huh", whispered Jace as he sprawled himself out on Alec's bed.

"Y... Yeah. Wild, that demon-summoning mess", nodded Alec awkwardly.

"You. True Love", corrected Jace, staring Alec dead in the eyes. "You kissed me, Alec. And the demon took it as payment. Don't look so surprised. You think I can't recognize your scent, the feeling of your hands against my skin, the way _your_ feelings bled through the parabatai-bond when you kissed me. Give me a bit more credit than that, parabatai."

Alec swallowed hard while Jace sat up. And considering what just had been said, Alec should not be quite as focused on the way Jace looked on his bed. However, he just couldn't help it. Then his heart started racing, because what had been said caught up with him.

"Jace, I can explain, please don't-", blurted Alec out, panic setting in.

"You know that... True Love, actual True Love, is... not a one-way-street, right?", whispered Jace softly, looking up at him. "It wouldn't have worked if it wasn't True Love."

His heart was ready to break out of his rib-cage as Alec realized what Jace had just said, but before he could form words did his parabatai grasp his neck and pull him into a kiss. The kiss said more than words ever could and for the first time ever, Alec felt _at ease_. True love's kiss indeed.

_~*~ The End ~*~_

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of the first prompts I immediately knew what ship I wanted it to be! It's just perfect!


End file.
